Shootember: Nuclear Throne

Shootember was traditionally a month for shooters, but this game involves more shooting than most shooters, so I think it's fair to classify this one under Shootember.

Nuclear Throne was $10, or rather, at the peak of the humble bundle a couple weeks back, though I mostly picked up said bundle for it. I've being eyeing Enter the Gungeon for a while, and it is often mentioned that NT here is either a spiritual predecessor, a game you should just buy instead, or a game a lot like it. You can pick whichever harsh or positive statement you like, I've heard them all. NT has an overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam, and I've heard lots of good things about it.

I was a little reluctant, which we'll get into, but bundles with multiple quality games are just hard to resist. That's the rub of Humble bundle, isn't it? Buying a bundle of seven or eight games for $10, when you want maybe three of them, but $3.33 doesn't sound so bad for them individually...

It's especially enticing when rumor has it the developers of this game stated they would never put the game on sale, or something to that effect. I haven't touched the rest of the bundle as of writing this, but that's generally how most humble bundle experiences work for me. I play two of the games and forget about the rest.

Nuclear Throne is a slightly isometric, twin-stick roguelite action game. I say 'roguelite' because it does have procedural generation and random drops, as well as a vague leveling system, but it's generally pretty focused on the main thrust of the game. Which is shooty, shooty action.

The game's story is ... I have no idea, I think you're a mutant looking to go be a mutant somewhere at Point B, and Point A is the start of the game, and there's a lot of not friendly stuff in-between the two. Levels are, as stated, randomly generated and filled with said not friendly occupants, who will attempt to expunge you with all hostility. The game is basically what it appears to be in screenshots, with few real decisions besides picking a new trait when you level.

You don't get anything else when you level. Just a singular trait.

The game's audio direction is uniquely excellent. The music is frantic and rough sounding, or somber and grindy, when it needs to be, and everything has responsive sounds that make for a more compelling experience. It always surprises me how little a lot of indie games put into sound, or even some AAA titles. Nuclear Throne nails it over and over. Everything sound weighty and right, and the sounds have meaning that help with gameplay. Enemies make noises, their guns make noises, your guns make noises, and everything delivers that extra layer of information.

Visually the game is ... Well, to be fair, as something of a quasi-shmup it is important that visual elements effectively stand out. That's the core priority, and Nuclear Throne does this element well - not perfectly, but well - on the other hand, to be frank, I find the game's art direction dismal and boring. It's just very traditional looking, kind of a freakshow, with some mostly bland backgrounds. I usually love pixel art, even lo-fi pixel are, but Nuclear Throne does nothing for me. That's a subjective thing and all, but I just don't find post-apocalypse stuff very interesting.

The gameplay is refined down to pure simplicity and there's not really much to describe. The game focuses on dodging enemy fire and enemies in melee, and taking them out is the only way to advance through the levels. You have two gun slots, swapping between is a button press and swapping to a new found gun is another button press. Ammo comes in various varieties, and weapons each use an individual type. Ammo is a big part of the game, and selecting which weapon to use often comes down to one blast 'em good weapon and one more efficient weapon that each use a different type.

There's also melee weapons but melee with a twin stick shooter just doesn't feel right at all to me. It feels like having a melee weapon is a good idea, but I just don't enjoy it. Each character also has a special and some small changes against the other characters. I enjoyed Crystal, Fish and Robot, but the others seemed like I wasn't getting the point.

The game's procedural generation - the game in general, to be honest - just doesn't care. Not all fights will be fair, many will be very unfair and due to the fade mechanic will be inevitably unrewarding. Drops other than guns 'fade' out over time, so any prolonged fire-fight basically gives you nothing, since most of the loot from the beginning will have faded away before you get to it.

When I picked up and started playing Risk of Rain, which is probably the "hardest" roguelike I've enjoyed, there was a period where I stopped enjoying the game and died. I died a lot, I died over and over for several hours. But after coming through that period I started to get the game and even though I was dying, I was getting further and further. Nuclear Throne, on the other hand, rapidly reached a point where I wasn't enjoying the game very much, and the problems with its procedural generation and general style of mechanics just made it stressful, and with that, tedious. I'm not great at the game, but I'd often find myself spawning into choke points with two melee enemies watching the choke, or stuff like spawning beside a car and being forced to rush into a room full of enemies... Or get blown up by the car. I also really dislike bullshit like ammo drops expiring on screen or the stupid next level portal sometimes spawning under you denying you loot.

It just doesn't feel to me that the action alone accomplishes what needs to be done to keep me playing. The game is just ugly and it's pretty easy to die on the first level unless you bring your A game, and that just gets boring. I'm just killing the same stuff over and over, getting to a boss I'm not too good at beating, them dying a level or two later or dying to some dumb bit of spike damage, like not seeing an ambusher or just... Meh.

I'm certain Nuclear Throne has its audience and has had success with that audience. Personally, I don't find it especially appealing, It's a well made game, and fun when you're starting out, but it's too willing to play unfair with you for me to like. I mean yeah, I'm sure there's people who can crush the game with only the Revolver while wearing an eyepatch and listening to Celine Dion, but me - personally - I'm not really into hardcore gaming and the vast majority of people aren't either.

There's a news article popped up on Steam where the guy recounts some of his most unpleasant rage quit moments. The one for Nuclear Throne is basically that when the next level portal pops, it can destroy cars, and cars explode, which can kill you. Essentially this happened to him, and it's supposed to be a comment on how great the game is.

This seriously underlines the schism between myself and the game's intended audience, and might be the most evocative point I can make. If you feel like a game randomly killing you can be for no benefit to gameplay, and don't mind, then I think this game is for you. It's hard and stupid for hard 'n stupid's sake. If you're like me and you look at that and think, well that's dumb, then you should probably think twice about picking this up. I did play for six hours, and enjoyed much of it, but it was more because I felt like I was going to hit that break point and less because I think highly of it.

Though the audio... The audio is so good. Really good. I really can't praise that element enough.

If Nuclear Throne sounds like you're part of its audience, I think it's definitely an excellent member of the genre. If it doesn't sound like you're part of the audience, avoid it. It's not going to do anything to convince you to love it. It's not a Rogue Legacy where it mechanically works with a player to improve their experience, it's just a very simplified twinstick procedural generation game.